Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Recipe(s): Custard and Other Egg and/or Milk-Using Ideas

Kimarie over at The Cardamom's Pod has a surplus of eggs, and has asked for recipes that can help her use them up.  I immediately thought of custard.

Below is my paternal grandmother's recipe.  It's very good, in the opinion of my five children and myself.  She recently made some for us, in 8 little custard cups, and it was devoured in minutes.  I confess that I haven't made it myself except maybe once or twice long ago when I was first married.  My husband doesn't care for it and it didn't seem quite worth the effort at that time for just me.  Plus, it tasted better when Grandma made it.  But recently I've been thinking that since the children enjoy it so much perhaps I should try again, with my own twist in the way of changing the sugar to Rapadura or honey, and using 'real' salt and milk.  Here's the recipe as it is -- changes would be simple to make.  Maybe having gotten this recipe out will inspire me to try. 

Custard

4 eggs
4 C. milk
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients together.  Pour into 8 custard cups or a pyrex dish.  Set cups or dish in a pan of water (Grandma uses a metal cake pan) and bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour or until a table knife comes out clean when inserted in the middle.


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I've never kept chickens (though I'd like to try it someday if we are blessed with a place where we can), so I've never had a huge surplus of eggs.  I haven't milked a cow, either, so neither have I had a truly abundant surplus of milk, but we buy our milk fresh from a farm, and I have had what to me was an abundance of soured real milk at times that I needed to use up.  So I searched and found from the Weston A. Price foundation an article for that purpose.  Some of the recipes at the bottom of this article use not only sour milk but also could help use some eggs.  The only one I've tried is the custard pudding, which was good and surprisingly similar to Grandma's recipe for custard, although it turned out a little more liquidy.  I had been afraid that using sour milk in custard would be disastrous, but now I think that it could probably be substituted in Grandma's recipe as well.  I also imagine that the recipes at this link could be made with fresh milk, but again, I haven't tried.

Another thought on using up eggs is to put some raw yolks in homemade smoothies (made with any combination of yogurt or milk, fresh or frozen fruit, a bit of natural sweetener if you desire, maybe a little vanilla or nutmeg -- be creative), and use the whites to make merengues or macaroons.  Smoothies are easy to make, and theoretically so are both those dessert options, but I haven't perfected them at all -- mine have tasted good, but turned out messier than I think they are supposed to.  I'm not sure if it's me or the recipes I've tried (probably me), and I'm not entirely sure which recipes I've used or how I might have altered them, so I don't feel confident recommending any for now.  You'll have to find your own.  Maybe you can share some tips with me?  :)

Go here for more of my recipes.

I'm linking this post to The Cardamom's Pod, where you can find more ideas for using eggs.
I'm also linking to Real Food Wednesday, a great place to find recipes and other resources about real food.

5 comments:

  1. When we have a surplus of eggs I make lots of noodles, quiche, and brownies if that helps at all.

    And when we have lots of milk, I make fresh yogurt and cheeses---mmmmm, love the cheeses! I haven't ventured out to cottage cheese yet--I love AE and am a little afraid to 'waste' the milk if my cottage cheese doesn't measure up! :)

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  2. Thank you for the ideas! We love custard, mmmmmm!

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  3. Although I do not keep chickens either, my neighbors family does so she is ALWAYS bringing me delicious farm fresh eggs. They are amazing. I grew up eating my grandma's custard (I think her recipe is a similar but have not made it in years). Now I am totally craving it! Thanks for the reminder! ;)

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  4. @Shonya: Thanks for the additional ideas. I like your cheese too. :)

    @Kimarie: You're welcome!

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  5. @Kim: It's amazing the difference there can be between farm eggs and store-bought, isn't it? Hope you got some custard, or get some soon! :)

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